Someday is Today
by whatareyouleftwith
Summary: It is someday and they have not yet found their place. [ t x g , t x c , r x k , z x s ]
1. Chapter 1

Title: Someday is Today

Chapter: 1/?

Rating: T (just to be safe)

Disclaimer: It's not mine.

Author's Note: This is my first ever fanfiction ever. I've always been a reader and never a writer. I'm writing this chapter by chapter, whenever inspiration hits me, so sorry in advance for any delays. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

* * *

When they meet it is a complete surprise. She is unusually ineloquent and he is calling out her order.

"Troy? What are you doing here? I mean working here? I mean…wow; it is so good to see you!" The coffee slips from her hand to the pick-up counter and for a moment she has the notion to try to hug him awkwardly. But there's a counter in the way and for another moment she's glad.

"Gabriella," he swallows that something (nervousness?) in his throat, "wow, you look great. Could we maybe talk more later, I'm, uh, kind of busy." Troy blushes when he sees his boss look at him pointedly. He indicates to the stacks of cups waiting for him to fill.

Gabriella looks at the cups dumbfounded for a moment, like she can't really comprehend what he's asking.

"Yeah, totally!" Gabriella fumbles with her purse taking out a pen and grabbing a napkin. She slips Troy her number and tells him to, "Call me. We really need to catch up!"

He sighs before hurrying to make all of those drinks.

Troy is unsettled at the sight of his former classmate. It has been three years and even though he has imagined at what meeting her again would be like, it never ever came close to this.

He runs a hand through his hair and frowns. This is not what he wanted the first impression of him to be. He wanted to be suave and handsome and not working at a stupid Starbucks.

Troy doesn't think he is ready to have her back in his life just yet.

* * *

Gabriella rushes home to tell Taylor the exciting news. She bursts into the tiny studio apartment with the groceries.

"Guess who I just ran into today?" She whirls around the kitchen putting things where they belonged. "Troy Bolton, can you believe it? Here I thought he went to U of A. Turns out he's right here in New York. Do you think he goes to college here? I mean, he has to, right? Because, I mean, he has to still be in school, I mean, we are." Gabriella twists around to see if her attentive audience is really attentive.

"Taylor?" She peers around. "Huh." Gabriella begins to laugh at herself. Taylor isn't even home. She settles into the couch and turns the TV on.

It is another couple of hours before Taylor even comes home, sighing about her homework. And then Gabriella begins her whirlwind speech again.

"Wow. I thought Troy went to University of Albuquerque too. I mean, that's what everyone was saying at graduation. And I distinctly remember him wearing a U of A sweatshirt at College Bonfire night. Well, whatever." Taylor flicks her hair back and they settle in to eat dinner.

"It kind of sucks that we didn't keep in touch with everybody, don't you think, Tay?" Gabriella twirls a pile of spaghetti. Taylor shrugs.

"I mean, it was bound to happen, wasn't it? I mean, at least half our class stayed in New Mexico, the rest went to California colleges, and then there was like ten of us who went to school on the East coast. The distance alone proved we wouldn't have had an easy time," Taylor sensibly points out.

"I know. But do you ever wonder what had happened if we had stayed?" Gabriella asks. Taylor sighs and puts down her fork, looking at her both patiently and impatiently, like a mother.

"Gabriella, I thought we agreed that going to Columbia was what was best for us. Besides, you and Troy weren't even-"

Gabriella cuts her off, "I know what Troy and I weren't even. But thanks for rehashing it for me, Tay."

"Omigod Gabriella, how many times do we have to go over this? You guys broke up, you said you were fine, Troy said he was fine; you guys were dating other people. You moved on and so did Troy." Taylor looks livid and Gabriella sighs, knowing that she shouldn't have said anything.

"I'm sorry Taylor. I didn't mean to -you know I'm -just, yeah. Let's not talk about it." Gabriella moves her hand over her face and Taylor sighs.

"I'm sorry for blowing up Gabs, I just -you know." Taylor smiles a tiny smile and Gabriella responds. "Now let's just watch some TV. _Ugly_ _Betty's_ coming on soon."

* * *

Tomorrow is Friday and Troy cannot be more ready. He trudges into his classes as late as possible, wishing the time would go faster.

"T, come on. Class is over." Someone is nudging him on the shoulder and using that god-awful nickname. Troy wakes to find drool on his desk and ink blots on his forehead.

"What?" He groggily croaks, "Dude, I haven't fallen asleep in class since the 10th grade."

His call-up-for-missing-assignments buddy Kevin (which really, is a moot point, because Kevin doesn't even know what the assignments were on a daily basis), laughs and says, "See you later, man."

Troy draws himself up and knows he is fucked as he sees the harsh white words on the chalkboard, 'Test on Tuesday!' He doesn't even know what chapter they just learned; the teacher likes to jump around.

"Hey, Cara," Troy calls out, leaping down the steps to catch her before she leaves. "Listen, I totally fell asleep during today's lecture. Wickmann was being such a bore. I was wondering if you could email today's notes to me?"

She's a pretty girl, entranced by a pretty boy, and she says, "Of course. No problem."

"Thanks. Thanks so much, you're the best." Troy glances at his watch. Fuck. He's going to be late for his shift. Troy packs up his laptop and stuffs everything into his bag and tears out of there.

As he runs, he can feel the basketball training engrained in him, and he's pleased to think that athleticism, like riding a bicycle, comes to him easily.

"I'm here, I'm here!" He calls throwing his apron over his head.

"Thank God," Judy, his boss, says, "We're totally packed." Troy looks at the noisy crowd, feeling a headache coming on. He sighs. This was how he was spending his Friday night.

* * *

Gabriella, on the other hand, was spending her Friday night in a distinctly different way.

"So, come on, it's time we treated ourselves. I mean we are two poor, broke lowly undergrads in New York City slaving over our degrees and whatnot. We need to loosen up a little bit!" Taylor prods her.

"And so why can't we, I don't know, have a fancy dinner or something?" Gabriella pleads. Taylor fixes her with a withering look.

"Like I said before, we're broke. How are we supposed to afford a fancy dinner, Gabs? Yeah, that's what I thought. Come on. I don't understand why you're so against this anyways." She stares at her with dawning realization.

"Seriously Gabby? Seriously?"

"No! It's not because of that. It's just…" Gabriella pauses when she can't think of any good reason besides that to not want to go. Well, none that wouldn't have made Taylor say, 'seriously.' "Never mind," she quickly says, smiling to assure her, "let's go."

"Fantastic," Taylor says, mock-upbeat. "Now go get dressed."

With a resigned sigh, Gabriella trots into her room like an obedient dog. This is how she is coerced into watching a Broadway musical.

The lights dim and Gabriella sighs, settling into the plush seats. They don't exactly have the best seats in the house, considering Taylor got the tickets on multiple discounts.

But as the stage brightens and the first chords of music begin Gabriella feels a tightening in her throat and an ache in her heart. Feelings that she got when she sang with Troy rush back to her, even though she's not singing and Troy's not here. But she needs to stops regretting the past. She gave this up. This was her decision.

The show ends too soon for Gabriella's liking and she wheedles with Taylor to stay a bit longer to talk to the actors. Taylor relents like she's doing a big favor for her, but secretly Taylor is glad that Gabriella is getting back to her roots.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Taylor apologizes. She was too busy giggling at Gabriella who was looking up at one of the cute boy actors with an adoring look. She had moved to get out of the way of someone who was trying to get out, and in doing so she had bumped into someone.

"That's fine," a voice mumbles, but Taylor recognizes the hat and the shiny shirt that matches perfectly and more importantly she remembers the voice; that voice took her to prom.

"Ryan?"


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Someday is Today

Chapter: 2/?

Rating: T (just to be safe)

Disclaimer: It's not mine.

* * *

"Taylor McKessie?" There is disbelief in his voice and Taylor is shocked beyond belief herself. 

"Ryan Evans!" They seem to be having a full-name conversation here. "Wow," she says, leaving over to hug him, "you look great."

"Thanks, so do you." Ryan gives her a smile and for a moment there, all they can do is stand there and smile at each other like idiots.

"So who're you with?"

"What are you doing here?" Their questions overlap and the conversation is a little stilted and awkward and not like it used to be, and Taylor finally says, "I'm here with Gabriella."

"Montez?" Ryan asks.

"Do we know any other Gabriellas?" Taylor asks with her usual slightly condescending tone. It makes Ryan feel strangely at home, back in a time of basketballs and heavy velvet curtains. "Yeah, she's over there, talking to your co-star, Mark. I don't think she's noticed yet."

Ryan pauses before saying, "Mark's not my co-star."

Taylor pauses too before hesitantly saying, "You mean, like he's your partner?" She wonders if Ryan is gay now. Not that there's anything wrong with that, she just wonders if maybe it was her doing. That would suck, if she turned Ryan gay.

"No, no," Ryan is quick to reassure. "I just meant that Mark isn't my co-star because, well, because," he swallows and says swiftly, "I'm not in the play."

"What? Oh," Taylor says hurriedly, not trying to sound too shocked, "so what are you doing here? Just watching?"

"No, um, actually," again with the pausing, "I'm a stagehand."

"Oh, really, that's fantastic," Taylor makes sure that she doesn't sound disappointed or unpleasantly surprised. "What do you do?"

"Oh, I'm a –" Ryan gets cut off.

"Tay! You'll never guess what Mark wrote on my playbill! It says –" Gabriella stops when she hears Taylor clear her throat. "What?"

She looks around to see what Taylor is trying to tell her when suddenly her eyes land on Ryan.

"Ryan! Omigod, it is so good to see you. Wow, how weird is this? First I see Troy yesterday, and now I see you! What are you doing in New York? I thought you went to University of Albuquerque with everyone else." Gabriella's full of questions and she is just so excited.

She gives him a quick hug and asks, "Can you take some time off? Do you have another show? I don't remember seeing you onstage; maybe you had some heavy makeup on, whatever, I don't remember. Anyways, you want to join me and Taylor and do something?"

Ryan laughs and says, "Actually, I wasn't onstage. I work behind the scenes." It gets easier and easier to say every time. "But yeah, that was the last show. I'd love to hang out with you guys."

The three of them smile at each other and they link arms like they used to and walk out the door.

* * *

They meet at the airport, and it is so purely coincidental that he almost gasps, because really, what are the odds (three years, and he's still thinking like her...)? He catches sight of her first, and she looks like she did three years ago. 

At first he is unsure whether or not he should go up to her. But then he shakes his head and tells himself he's stupid. Of course he should go up to her; you can't ignore that kind of friendship, no matter how long ago it was.

He taps her shoulder and she whirls around and he envelopes her in a hug and she says, "Omigod! What are you doing here?" It's such a stupid question and it's so instinctive that it just falls out of her mouth and she is quick to amend it. "I mean, I know what you're doing here, you're either going some place or coming from some place. Which is it?"

"I'm actually going to New York," he confirms and smiles. "And you?"

"Same. Wow. Are you taking the midnight flight to JFK?" She asks, praying it's a yes. They had parted on good terms at graduation, even if she and some of the others hadn't.

"Yeah, sweet." There's a pause before, "Let's go get some coffee," and she quickly agrees.

"I'm really glad that I bumped into you. It's like fate or something," she chatters. "And it's so weird that we're on the same flight and we didn't plan it or anything. Why are you going to New York anyways?"

She fills in most of the silence and he's kind of surprised to find that this meeting is not awkward at all. Mostly he's surprised to find out that he missed her. He really missed her.

He swallows a mouthful of burning hot liquid with two sugars and three creams before answering. "Um, actually, my grandmother just died."

Her face crumples before saying, "Oh, wow, I'm so sorry," and he's surprised (he's just in a state of shock from this whole encounter) to find that her sorry sounds genuine.

"No, it's fine. I wasn't really close. In fact, I never really talked to her because of the distance. But my mom begged me to come for the funeral, so I am. It's not in the city, the funeral," he clarifies, "but there's not enough room for me at the house, so I'm staying with a friend who does live in the city," he explains, the words coming out of his mouth before he realizes that she never asked for it. "Why are you going?"

She frowns, something he's not expecting. It used to be whenever asked to talk about herself she'd perk up noticeably and a long string of words would fly out of her mouth. "I'm going to see someone I haven't seen in a long time," she finally says.

He doesn't pry because he figures he doesn't know who she's talking about anyways. And she doesn't seem to want to say.

They sit in amiable silence until they hear their flight being called and they smile at each other before leaving.

As they walk towards their terminal she looks up at him and gives him another hug.

"I'm really glad that I bumped into you," she reiterates. "I missed you." He feels a good feeling settle in his stomach, contentment and familiarity, and it feels good that even after all this time, they still have the same friendly camaraderie.

He kisses her, a friendly brush against the temple, and he says with genuine feeling, "I missed you too."

* * *

"And so then I realize that it's not wardrobe I've ended up in, it's the stage, and knowing me I end up right in the spotlight!" 

"So then what do you do?" Taylor asks eagerly. The three of them have ended up at a small 24 hour diner, satisfying their midnight snack craving.

"Well, you know me, I'm never one to pass up being in the spotlight, and I totally know all of the character's lines and I just recited them. Luckily it was near the beginning of the show so no one really noticed. And it helped that most of the audience was drunk," Ryan adds, smiling.

"So what happened? Is that when you became a famous Broadway star?" Gabriella asks.

Ryan raises an eyebrow. "Gabriella, have you gone stupid? Do I look like a famous Broadway star?"

Gabriella brushes off the comment with a wave of her hand. It shows how easy it is for them to be friends like they used to be. "No, seriously, what happened?"

"Well, I got fired. And finally that was enough for me, so I was like, 'good riddance!' and I moved from Albuquerque and came to New York."

"Wow, you just packed up and left?" Ryan nods and Gabriella continues, "So are you still going to school, Ry?"

"Yeah, I'm actually going to the New School University. I just graduate from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, which I switched to from U of A back home."

It's weird to think of Albuquerque as her home, and even though Taylor's been in New York City for three years, she still does.

Ryan takes a bite of his doughnut and asks, "So what have you two been doing?"

Taylor shrugs and says, "Nothing really. I mean, we're both in school at Columbia."

Ryan smiles at them, "Doing your smart thing."

There's a comfortable silence between the three of them and Ryan's pretty sure it's only because they haven't bothered to go deep enough for it to hurt and Ryan knows he's not going to instigate that conversation.

Gabriella breaks the quiet and says, "I'm glad that we're hanging out. It feels weird that we haven't kept in touch with anybody from high school."

"Yeah, me too. I mean, I had made friends at school and stuff, but it's never felt like it did back in high school, you know? We were like a family," Ryan says.

Taylor feels an impending trip down memory lane coming up and Taylor's not sure she can deal with that sort of drama so she says hastily, "We should get together more often, now that we know that we're all in the city."

That reminds Gabriella of Troy and she perks up and says, "Yeah, hey, we should invite Troy too."

"Why? Isn't he back home, in New Mexico?" Ryan looks confused.

"Remember, I said I saw him yesterday? At Starbucks? It was such a surprise. I told him to call me so we can hang out. We should all get together and really catch up. Did you even know he had moved out here?" It reminds Gabriella that Troy hasn't called yet and she should check her messages when she got home. She had given both her and Taylor's cell phone numbers and their house phone.

"That's so weird, isn't it?" Taylor muses. "I mean, I know people say this a lot, but New York really is such a big city. What were the chances of us meeting two of our former classmates?"

Gabriella flicks her thoughtful eyes to both of her companions and shrugs. "I don't know. But I'm glad we did."

* * *

Troy wipes down the counter tiredly and sighs. Just as Troy slips to storage, the bell rings and Troy yells to Quinn, his coworker, "Can you get that?" 

Quinn rolls her eyes and says politely to the customer, "Hi, how can I help you?"

The boy sighs and mumbles, "Can I just get a coffee? To go, please." Quinn smiles and nods and goes off to make his order.

The boy taps the counter impatiently, checking his watch every now and then and muttering, "Jenkins is going to kill me."

"Here you go. That'll be 3 dollars and 79 cents," Quinn says, handing the coffee over to him.

There's a momentary pause while the boy's counting out the correct change, despite the fact that he seemed to be in a hurry before.

"Here," he says, dropping quarters in his haste, "sorry," he adds before running out the door.

Troy reappears at the front of the store just as Zeke Baylor walks out.

* * *

So we meet another East High-er, if only for a second. I'm pretty sure it's kind of obvious who it was in the airport scene. Who else is left? Don't worry; everyone will be in sooner or later. Review please. ) 


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Someday is Today

Chapter: 3/?

Rating: T (just to be safe)

Disclaimed: It's not mine

He finds his foot tapping to the beat of the music in the elevator. It's become a habit of his, even though he doesn't know why; he was never the one in the musical. Zeke fingers the white chef's hat, feeling self-conscious even though he's been in the same elevator, the same building in the same white hat every day for the past two years. Zeke frowns; Jenkins only insists that everyone wears that stupid white hat, and he feels a little ridiculous when it topples over every time he leans down to take out a rack of muffins from the oven.

The song changes and the rate at which his foot is going slows and the elevator dings and Zeke walks out.

It's a Monday and Zeke is ready for a grueling week at the International Culinary Center.

* * *

They arrive at JFK and she still looks as lovely as ever despite a late night flight and he is stubbly and his hair is everywhere. 

They're at baggage claim D and she kind of gets this little sigh-y feeling and she wishes that there was someone who loved her to meet her at the airport.

But he's here, and it's enough to be with a friend, and she knows that when she sees him again it's going to be difficult. It was always difficult with him.

"Are you ready?" he asks and she feels a gush of warmth towards him and she remembers a time when things were better; when they were a family.

"Yeah," she says, smiling, "I'm ready."

They walk out of the terminal and even though it's about to rain she takes out her sunglasses and sets them over her eyes. He laughs.

"That is so you, Sharpay." She looks up at him and rolls her eyes.

"Thanks Chad."

* * *

He ruffles his hair and adds a dash of oregano and sighs. Troy shifts his weight and stirs the tomato sauce. The doorbell rings and he already knows she's going to yell at him. 

He yells, "It's open!" and the door creaks open. She bustles in and sighs.

"Again, Troy? Seriously? We're going to have pasta again?"

"Hey, you know it's the only thing I make well. Remember last time I tried to make chicken cordon bleu and you nearly threw it all up," Troy reminds her.

She pauses. "That is unfortunately true. Perhaps we should stick to the pasta," she agrees and Troy smiles.

He kind of wants to tell her; no, he has to tell her. But he wants to wait for the right time.

He waits until there's a happy, content lull in the conversation before he clears his throat and says, "So I met Gabriella the other day."

There is a moment of flustered hesitation before she regains her previous cheeriness, "Really? Gabriella, your ex-girlfriend Gabriella?"

"Um, yeah," he says, "that one."

"Um, that's great, Troy. I don't know why you're so afraid of my reaction. Just because we didn't exactly leave off on the best of terms doesn't mean I don't still miss her."

"I know, it's just, it's awkward a little, don't you think?" He peers under his eyelashes to look at her.

"It is," she agrees, "but it doesn't change the fact that we were like family in high school, Troy. Besides, she doesn't even know I'm here."

"What do you mean? Do you not want me to tell you that you're in New York? Come on, you know she wants to see you too."

"Troy, you know she's not still over it. I wouldn't be. I don't want to mess things up for you two."

"Mess what up? We're just friends Kelsi," he asks.

"Troy," she says, sighing, "You were never just friends. I of all people should know that."

He ducks his head and she sighs and she says, "Never mind. I didn't mean to make you feel bad."

"Kelsi," Troy begins in an almost begging voice, "you know I'm sorry. I never meant to-"

"I know you didn't," she consoles, "and besides, I helped a little too."

* * *

"So, who are you visiting?" Chad asks. It's been bugging him all day. Sharpay plays around with the zipper of her juicy couture jacket. 

"Just my brother," Sharpay finally mumbles.

"Ryan? You're visiting Ryan?" Chad blurts out. Sharpay sighs and pushes her bangs out of her face.

"Yeah, I'm visiting Ryan."

"Does he know?" Chad demands. Sharpay sighs again, a weary exhalation.

"Not really."

"And where are you staying?" Chad asks, because after what she did, he's pretty sure she's not staying with him.

"I'm actually staying with a friend." Sharpay sniffs elegantly. Chad is wary.

"What friend?"

"Are you serious, Chad? Do not get all over-protective-brother-slash-boyfriend on me, ok? I am 21 and I am certainly old enough to take care of myself, ok?"

"I don't care, Shar, I'm going with you. I need to see who this friend is myself. Make sure you're not shacking up with some sketchy Hell's Angel or something," Chad argues.

"Fine," she relents. "I'm staying with Zeke."

This information does not soothe Chad; if anything, it fires him up more. "Zeke? Zeke Baylor? Like high-school Zeke Baylor? Seriously Sharpay, are you serious? Do you really think that's such a good idea? You know, after what happened?"

"Thanks for bringing it up, Chad, really. I know what happened. I was there."

"So was I, Sharpay. And you broke his freaking heart."

"You helped," she says, narrowing her eyes and she knows she won this one. "Besides, don't you have to get to your friend's house? I'm sure he's waiting."

It's a she, but he doesn't bother correcting her. "Fine, I will," and he makes off to storm away huffily.

Sharpay sighs and rolls her eyes and grabs his wrist. "Oh, don't stomp off all angry, Chad," she says in that Sharpay way of hers, "Let's exchange numbers. We should keep in touch. After all, I've finally found you after all these years, I don't want it to be another three years before we meet up again."

Chad smiles and draws her into a hug, all arguments forgotten and he kisses her on the crown of her head and she wiggles out of it, protesting that, "you're ruining my hair!"

"It was ruined anyways," he teases and she hits him playfully with his bag.

"See you later," she says, and he asks, "Promise?" and she says, "Of course," and they go their separate ways.

* * *

"Why hasn't he called yet?" Gabriella frets. Taylor flips through a magazine, disinterested and unhappy. 

"Why does it matter? It's not like you're waiting for a guy to call you back after you gave him your number," Taylor says. Seeing Gabriella's glance Taylor amends, "Well, I mean, you are, just not in that way, that date-y way, you know what I mean?"

Gabriella rolls her eyes and says, "Sure."

Moments pass before Gabriella begins again, "I don't know why you're so against me hanging out with Troy anyways."

"He broke your heart Gabriella," Taylor reminds her; she's always reminding her.

"I broke his too," Gabriella says softly. Taylor looks up now and sighs.

There is nothing to say because it is so true.

* * *

Please review! 


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Someday is Today

Chapter: 4/?

Rating: T (just to be safe)

Disclaimed: It's not mine

* * *

When he calls she is both thrilled and nervous and drops all of her books on the floor. It is a scratchy message left on her machine and it has been three years, but Gabriella can still recognize his voice.

When she calls him again, he pleads for no more coffee and she agrees with a smile on her face so he takes them out for a simple lunch instead of a simple coffee date. Troy invites Taylor too, but she has class.

"Gabi, I don't know about this," Taylor tells her with worry and wariness in her voice.

Gabriella is standing in front of her closet looking for clothes to wear. Her heart is giddy and her mind is racing and she feels like its junior year all over again and it is her first official date with Troy.

"Why not, Tay? Do you like not like Troy?" Gabriella asks, still looking through her skirts.

"Of course I like Troy. I love Troy. And you know why, Gabi. He broke your heart years ago. What happens if he does it again? I'd feel better if I were there." Gabriella holds up a skirt and Taylor shakes her head no.

"Oh, stop being so overdramatic Tay. I was young and stupid and naïve back then. It's been four years since junior year and I'm more mature than that. I'm totally over him. And anyways, you have class." Gabriella is secretly a little bit glad that Taylor has class.

Together Taylor and Gabriella choose an outfit and carefully lay it out on the bed before moving on to do makeup and hair.

"Fine, just," Taylor stops brushing Gabriella's hair, "don't get your heart broken, ok?"

Gabriella smiles at her in the mirror a reassuring smile. "I won't," she promises.

* * *

She's nervous. Gabriella gets there early, and this is one time she curses her stupid punctuality. Her heart is pounding and her palms are sweaty and her feet are tapping out a frenzied beat, and for the life of her she can't figure out why.

"Gabriella, hey," Troy says, and Gabriella's heart is all of a sudden in her throat. There are so many thoughts in her jumbled mind all clamoring for her attention, but the dominant one is, 'damn, he looks good in the sunlight.'

And he does, all 6 feet 2 inches of him, broad and strong. He looks like he used to, with dark brown hair and blue, blue eyes. He's still clean shaven, and he still has that boyish smile.

"Troy, wow, you look great," the words tumble out of her mouth before she can catch them. Troy smiles at her.

"So do you," Troy compliments, and he's not lying. He hadn't gotten a very good look at her at the coffee shop, and he's glad that he didn't, otherwise he might have been too frightened to call her.

She's still as beautiful as he remembered. Her hair was shorter, and she had gotten taller, not by much, but taller nevertheless, but she still smiled like she used to.

"Wow, I can't believe we haven't talked in, what, like three years? That's just, it's just crazy," Gabriella says, sipping her water.

"I know. I haven't really talked in a lot of people in a while. It sucks that Taylor has class."

"Yeah, I know. She was really excited too. So you haven't kept in touch with Chad or anybody?"

"Uh, no actually. Last I heard Chad was still at U of A with his basketball scholarship. Sometimes I catch the college basketball games on TV and I see him and Jason playing."

"That's cool. So what are you doing here in New York? I could have sworn at the college bonfire I saw you wearing an Albuquerque sweatshirt."

"I was, but," he shrugs, "shit happens." Troy doesn't give anything else, and Gabriella likes to think she knows better than to push.

"So, how's Kelsi?" Gabriella asks quietly. Troy pauses and tells her, "I don't know. We broke up first semester of freshmen year."

There's an awkward silence, and luckily the waiter comes by to take their orders, and they move on to happier, lighter subjects than their past.

"And so Taylor calls out, certain that she has the right answer, and of course, being Taylor, she does, and the professor says, in such an angry voice, 'thank you Ms. McKessie, but I wanted you to figure it out for yourselves,' and Taylor was so embarrassed that she didn't raise her hand in the class for a month."

Troy chuckles at something that was so inherently Taylor. "That's so Taylor." Gabriella smiles and agrees.

They pause to eat a bit more and Troy asks, "Has she changed?"

"What do you mean?" Gabriella asks. Troy gives a helpless shrug. "You know what I mean," he insists.

Gabriella shrugs too. "I guess a little. Just in the way that she's lightened up. And I guess in the way that she," Gabriella struggles to find the right words, "that she has a harder time believing in romance and love, you know?"

Troy is quiet. Moments pass before either one of them speak and Troy asks, "Do you think it's because of Chad?"

Gabriella sighs. "Probably. I mean, her parents were divorced and when Chad dumped her, it was like reinforcing it."

Troy swallows that big lump in his throat, but he has to get this question out, he just has to.

It comes out as a whisper, like something he didn't mean to say, "Did you think that too?" He didn't want it to be his fault, but it always is.

She sighs. Gabriella begins toying with her napkin, "I don't think we should get into that right now, Troy."

There is silence again before Gabriella says, "I think we should go. The waiter has been staring at us, probably trying to get us to leave."

She's trying to make him smile, and it works. An easy grin appears on his face and he says, "Yeah. Besides, my food's all cold."

Gabriella smiles too, "Yeah, because we've been talking for like four hours. Come on," she cocks her head, "let's swing by my place. Taylor should be home and we can catch up some more."

Troy gives her a heart-stopping smile and she's reminded why she loved him in the first place and he tells her, "I'd like that."

They stop by _Amaretto_, picking up a few cookies for Taylor, Gabriella saying, "She probably hasn't eaten all day after I left. She's working on some project or something."

Troy has to smile. That's so Taylor. He mentions this out loud and Gabriella smiles too and says, "Yeah, that's our Taylor," and Troy likes the use of the plural possessive pronoun.

She unlocks the door and Troy vaguely feels like this is the end of the date. They open the door to find Taylor not working but relaxing on the couch, watching TV.

"Hey Gabriella, how was lunch?" Taylor asks without turning around.

"Why don't you ask Troy?" Gabriella asks. Taylor frowns, a little bit confused.

"Ask Troy? How would I ask Troy? I don't know his numb-" She turns around now and catches sight of Troy.

Gabriella is a little apprehensive of what Taylor will say. But she shouldn't be. Taylor gives a little shriek and runs towards him and he swings her around.

"Omigod, I'm so glad to see you! I'm so sorry that I couldn't have lunch with you but I had class. Ah!" Taylor shrieks again and Gabriella can't remember a time when Taylor was this giddy. Well, maybe she can.

The three of them sit down and Troy asks, "What are you watching?"

Taylor is busy rummaging through the cookies and squeals, "Ooh, you got my favorite, here Troy, take one."

"Wow, she must really have missed you," Gabriella comments amusedly, "half the time she won't let me have even one."

Troy smiles and gives Taylor a one-armed hug. "I missed her too."

It's weird, but Gabriella thinks that here, in this moment, if life was like this, she could be happy.


End file.
